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Europe Starts Debate on Patents

From Wired News

A new battle between European open-source advocates and the European Patent Office is being waged at the Diplomatic Conference to Revise the European Patent Convention in Munich, Germany.

A key issue at the conference, which opened Monday, will be whether software developers should be allowed to patent their applications. Current European law does not allow software to be patented, but the European Patent Office (EPO) is heavily in favor of an extension of the patent system that would extend its coverage to software.

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